PARENTAL SUPPORT, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT - AN INTEGRATIVE MODEL WITH LATE ADOLESCENTS

The purpose of this study was to apply an integrative predictive model to examine interrelationships among parental support, adaptive coping strategies, and psychological adjustment among late adolescents Findi ngs using new measures of parental support and adaptive coping with 24 1 eighteen-year-old college freshmen supported hypotheses. Social supp ort from both mother and father and a nonconflictual relationship betw een parents were positively associated with adolescents' psychological adjustment. Adolescents with high parental support were better adjust ed and less distressed than were those with low parental support. Addi tionally, an integrative structural equation model showed that parenta l support was associated with psychological adjustment both directly a nd indirectly through a higher percent of approach coping strategies.